Card index



J. A. BEST CARD INDEX Oct. l, 1940.

Filed April 14, 1939 if mf ma me whlmnahw L m l0 Patented Oct. 1, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFlcE CARD INDEX John Austin Best, Augusta, Ga.

Application April 14, 1939, Serial No. 267,891

Claims.

The present invention has to do in general with card indexes such as usually comprise a series of cards and a drawer, tray, box or other box-like holder therefor, and relates more par- 5 ticularly to the cards themselves without regard to the character of the holder.

Various means, requiring the cooperation of specially formed cards and specially formed boxlike card holders, have been heretofore proposed l0` to provide for lateral and vertical displacement or offsetting of selected cards of an index of this nature with respect to the other cards, but the very fact that specially formed holders are required, particularly in vertical offsetting of cards,

has been sufcient to limit their acceptance and use.

It is, for the foregoing reason, an important object of the present invention to provide means A by which selected cards may be elevated or offset vertically with respect to other cards, within the usual or ordinary card holder, and maintained in more or less offset relation for the various purposes for which vertical offsetting may be desired or necessary in an index of this character, as for instance the raising or elevation of certain cards for individual visibility or for subindexing and the like.

It is a further and more specific object to utilize for the above purpose a supporting or lift card capable of receiving and effectively holding a name card in a selected position of elevation above adjacent name cards, and to do this without interfering with the full use and functions of all of the name cards in other respects.

It has been heretofore proposed to make provision for the spreading of the upper portions of the cards of a series, in a fan-like manner in a card index, by utilizing cards, the lower edge portions of which are of less thickness than their remaining body portions, and while such an arrangement need not be stressed in the present instance, it is an object of my invention to provide vertical offsetting means which will not defeat or even curtail the spreading of cards having means to that end.

In particular, it is an object to provide vertical offsetting means which will effectively coact with either the ordinary at name card or with many specially formed cards, and with these and other objects to be presently made plain, the invention herein resides in the several features to be now described in detail.

In the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specication:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a name card supported by one of my improved lift cards.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the blank of such lift card.

Figure 3 is a partial vertical sectional view i taken on line 3 3 of Figure 1. '5

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a portion of a lift card with its name card, illustrating a slight modification in respect to the former.

Figure 5 is a partial top plan view of the blank of the lift card of Figure 4. 1

Figure 6 is a front elevation of the lower portion of still another modified form of lift card.

Figure 6a is a front view View of a fragmentary portion of a lift card illustrating a particular manner of use. 15

Referring now to these figures, I have shown in various ones thereof an ordinary index name card, indicated in each instance at A, and which it is to be understood is merely a plain rectangular section of suitable material which may be formed "20 in any manner at its upper edge with name and other data-receiving divisions or spaces and the like, since none of these features enter into the present invention. l

In Figures 1, 2 and 3 I have shown such a 25 name card A, supported by a lift card I5 for vertical offsetting purposes. This lift card I5 is formed from a blank as shown in Figure 2 by bending the latter along a dotted line I6, so that it consists of upstanding front and rear 30 walls I'I and I8 joined at their lower edges to receive between them the lower portion of the name card A.

The lift card I5 thus presents an upwardly opening pocket to receive the name card A, the 35 lower edge of the latter resting on the base of the pocket or in other words the bent or folded lower edge of the lift card.

Previously, the blank shown in Figure 2 is provided with slits or cut out portions I9, outlining a 40 tab 20 along one side of its fold line I6, so that when the blank is folded, the elongated tab 20 will depend from the lower folded edge 2I of the lift card in the plane of its wall I8 to form, in effect, a foot for supporting contact with the 45 base of the box-like card holder whereby to support the lift card, and therefore the name card A, in elevated or vertically offset relation to the other name cards resting directly onv the holder base and in any desired number between lift 50 cards.

The tabs 20 may be positioned along the major central portions of the lift cards, as seen in Figures 1 and 2, or separate end tabs 20 may be formed adjacent the side edges by means of cut 56 out portions I9a, as seen in Figures 4 and 5, where the card is generally indicated at Ia and its front and rear Walls are seen at l'la and |811, and a fold line at |6a.

The lift cards, of whatever tab formation, may, it is contemplated, be made of any suitable material, stiff paper, cardboard, Celluloid, metal, and in fact any thin gauge material having the required degree of stiness, and it is to be understood that `wherever in this description and the following claims, the fold line of the lift card or its blank is mentioned, it is intended to include either an imaginary line without marking, or as indicated by perforations, creases, printing and the like.

It is further contemplated the lift cards may be made with series of tabs 20b as shown in connection with the lift card l5b of Figure 6, and in various lengths or for instance one maximum length as shown in Figure 6a, where the tab 2l]c appears of maximum length and with dotted or other lines a, b and c, indicating where it may be severed by shears and the like to accord with different desired elevations of the name card.

n keeping with the above, it is also apparent that instead of actually cutting the tabs 29, as in Figure 6a, they may be formed of maximum length as are the ltabs 2lia of Figure 5 and, by merely folding the blank along different fold lines, as indicated by the additional fold lines 2l2- in Figure 5, their eiective lengths may in this way be controlled.

In addition to the foregoing, it is contemplated theI lift card blank may, in each instance, be folded so that the upper edgesI of its front and rear walls will coincide below the upper edge of the name card A, as seen in Figure 4, or to extend the rear wall of the lift card to the extreme upper edge of the name card, as seen in Figure l, where it thus lends reenforcement and strength to the upper data-receiving edge portion of the name card.

It will be noted that in each instance the lift card, in association with the name card supported thereby, and as used more or less frequently throughout a series of spreading cards such as those shown in my Patent 2,084,238, will in no wise interfere with effective spreading.

What is claimed is:

1. A lift member for supporting a name card in an index, having upstanding walls integrally united at their lower edges and tabs depending from said lower edge, the blank of which member has a transverse fold line and slits in said blank outlining said tabs along one side of said fold line.

2. A lift card for supporting one or more name cards in an index, said lift card having upstanding integral front and rear walls foldably connected along the lower edge thereof, and also having slits therein at one side of the line of fold of said walls and forming one or more tabs projecting below said lower edge in the plane of one of said walls.

3. A lift card for supporting name cards in an index, said lift card having upstanding front and rear sections opposing one another and foldably connected at their lower edges to form therebetween an upwardly opening pocket to receive a name card, said lift card having slitted portions defining tabs forming continuatiens of one of said sections and depending in the plane of said section below the folded lower edges of said upstanding sections.

4. A lift card as set forth in claim 3,' in which the line of fold of the upstanding sections determines the extent of projection of the tabs therebelow.

5. A lift card for supporting a name card in an index, said lift card comprising a rectangular blank having a series of parallel transverse fold lines dividing the same into approximately similar sections, said blank having slits therein defining transversely aligned tabs, the sides of which tabs overlap the several fold lines.

' JOHN AUSTIN BEST. 

